Donkey Kong Bananza box art
Playing Played Wish List Backlog
Add to Shelf Add to List

See more on IGDB

Donkey Kong Bananza (2025)

Nintendo EPD Production Group No. 8

Nintendo Switch · Nintendo Switch 2

4.30 from 256 ratings

508 members have it in their collection · 84 playing now · 69 backlogged · 140 wish listed

How long? Main story 26h · with extras 33h · 100% 58h (from 31 logged playthroughs)

Donkey Kong Bananza is exclusively on Nintendo Switch 2! Explore a vast underground world—by smashing your way through it! Bash, throw, and climb through just about anything in DK’s brand-new 3D platforming action-adventure game!

Details

Developers
Nintendo EPD Production Group No. 8
Publishers
Nintendo
Genres
Adventure, Platform
Themes
Action
Franchises
Donkey Kong
Series
Donkey Kong
Events
Taipei Game Show 2026, Nintendo Direct 9.12.2025, Donkey Kong Bananza Direct 6.18.2025, Nintendo Treehouse Live: Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Direct: Nintendo Switch 2 - 4.2.2025

Release dates

  • Jul 17, 2025 (Full Release) (Worldwide) Nintendo Switch 2
  • TBD (Cancelled) (Worldwide) Nintendo Switch

Related

DLC

Featured in lists

Vote on Grouvee's Favorite Game Stories! by shinespark · 52 games · 4
Come For The Game, Stay For The Soundtrack by liketheaward · 12 games · 1
Games, Ranked by Cukie · 112 games · 0
Top 100 by IzzyBoy · 101 games · 0
GOTY 2025 by LarsFrukt · 40 games · 0
00 - S Tier by imklubb · 22 games · 0

Rating distribution

5 stars
124
4 stars
96
3 stars
28
2 stars
4
1 star
4

Community All Reviews Statuses

Pale

Status Pale Jul 1, 2026

Rolled credits on this last night. Took me longer than I expected and I still plan to find all those dang bananas. Can’t really decide how I feel about this game. It’s obviously great but I honestly had even higher expectations for it. It didn’t have as many jaw dropping moments as I thought Odyssey had. Splitting hairs though. I’m …

Read more

Rolled credits on this last night. Took me longer than I expected and I still plan to find all those dang bananas. Can’t really decide how I feel about this game. It’s obviously great but I honestly had even higher expectations for it. It didn’t have as many jaw dropping moments as I thought Odyssey had. Splitting hairs though. I’m happy Nintendo still makes games like this.

Read less
Permalink
DucksOnQuack

Status DucksOnQuack Jun 9, 2026

"Fuck you guys asking for a 3D Mario for so long. Donkey Kong Mario costume. This is all the 3D Mario news you are going to get."

Permalink
Kenchiin

Status Kenchiin Dec 19, 2025

I am around floor 600 and it doesn't look this is ending anytime soon lol

Permalink
Predefiance

Status Predefiance Oct 21, 2025

Just some good damn fine fun. Can drop in for an hour or 5 mins and still make some progress in finding collectibles. It's just lots of fun to smash things.

Permalink
DucksOnQuack

Status DucksOnQuack Oct 14, 2025

Controversial opinion: After getting A ranks on most of the levels at difficulty level 7, I of like Emerald Rush more than Balloon World. Sure, Odyssey has that online interaction with other players and it is free, but I like how Emerald Rush challenges you more. You are not just looking for ways to maneuver around the level, but …

Read more

Controversial opinion: After getting A ranks on most of the levels at difficulty level 7, I of like Emerald Rush more than Balloon World. Sure, Odyssey has that online interaction with other players and it is free, but I like how Emerald Rush challenges you more. You are not just looking for ways to maneuver around the level, but you're also incentivized to collect fossils and bananas so you have to memorize where everything is. It's a great trainer for those who want to do completion speedruns. I love this mode for challenging how much you know of these levels and their collectibles alone. It's the challenge that Bananza needed and I am all for it. Mode nearly doubled my playtime.

Read less
Permalink
DucksOnQuack

Status DucksOnQuack Sep 23, 2025

Emerald Rush in Tempest Layer needs to be ironed out. It is rough; marred by the RNG so if the Elephant Bananza is placed behind lava that you can't get rid of without the Elephant Bananza, bad luck. It is heavily reliant on the barrel cannons you collect if you want to traverse. There needs to be patches for especially …

Read more

Emerald Rush in Tempest Layer needs to be ironed out. It is rough; marred by the RNG so if the Elephant Bananza is placed behind lava that you can't get rid of without the Elephant Bananza, bad luck. It is heavily reliant on the barrel cannons you collect if you want to traverse. There needs to be patches for especially this layer.

Read less
Permalink
A_Wilmot

Status A_Wilmot Sep 22, 2025

Solid, but a bit on the empty side in terms of engagement or emotion. Just a lot of collecting and very little genuine puzzle solving/interesting platforming. Still fun, though. Definitely missing the musical hooks of, say, Odyssey.

Permalink
DucksOnQuack

Status DucksOnQuack Sep 21, 2025

Funny how the DLC has a much more fulfilling postgame than the base game.

Permalink
DucksOnQuack

Status DucksOnQuack Sep 12, 2025

Love the little deep cut references in the new DLC. They had the Donkey Konga bongos as a little landmark and Donkey Kong's iconic catchphrase from the show is a name for one of the perks. Having explored a decent chunk of DK Island, if I see Xananab, I will flip.

Permalink
Gangreen

Status Gangreen Aug 31, 2025

Finished. One of the few times I sat through the credits. I really liked the end song.

Permalink
ktynnlol

Status ktynnlol Aug 23, 2025

God tier game. Even if the repetition is there, you can feel the same systems repeating themselves, but that doesn't really take away the incredible amount of creativity and joy there is to be found and experienced in this game.

It's almost as if Nintendo made custom Minecraft levels that have you platforming and puzzling around, added BotW shrines, AND …

Read more

God tier game. Even if the repetition is there, you can feel the same systems repeating themselves, but that doesn't really take away the incredible amount of creativity and joy there is to be found and experienced in this game.

It's almost as if Nintendo made custom Minecraft levels that have you platforming and puzzling around, added BotW shrines, AND the option to destroy everything and find coins/rewards/bananas/fossils when smashing stuff.

Genius.

Read less
Permalink
cakeatjobs

Status cakeatjobs Aug 20, 2025

OH. THE COINS ARE BANANA SLICES. OH MY GOD. OH I GET IT NOW

Permalink
Reina

Status Reina Jul 31, 2025

Well, it’s not often i 100% a game, but two weeks and 55 hours later I’ve done everything in Donkey Kong Bananza. What a great game! It just kept getting better and better!

Great exploration, great platforming, fun story, amazing animation, and characters that stuck with me! And it also fixed the Mario/DK timeline! A case where retconning changed smth …

Read more

Well, it’s not often i 100% a game, but two weeks and 55 hours later I’ve done everything in Donkey Kong Bananza. What a great game! It just kept getting better and better!

Great exploration, great platforming, fun story, amazing animation, and characters that stuck with me! And it also fixed the Mario/DK timeline! A case where retconning changed smth for the better!

I started out by giving it a 7/10 early on and ended up giving it a 9/10 by the end.

enter image description here

Read less
Permalink
ArthasFordragon

Status ArthasFordragon Jul 28, 2025

This game is unbelievably great. It looks beautiful. I'm so excited to see the future of switch 2 games. And Metroid 4 will be right around the corner!. I found an awesome statue of a giant lizard!

Permalink
DucksOnQuack

Status DucksOnQuack Jul 28, 2025

I completed the skill tree out of obligation. Took 1000 bananas, but getting every banana that is on the list in the game does not give you enough to complete the skill tree. You need to grind thousands of banandium chips to get the rest of the bananas to complete the skill tree and you don't even get a reward. …

Read more

I completed the skill tree out of obligation. Took 1000 bananas, but getting every banana that is on the list in the game does not give you enough to complete the skill tree. You need to grind thousands of banandium chips to get the rest of the bananas to complete the skill tree and you don't even get a reward. Not even a star in the save file. It's not like in Mario Odyssey where you get a golden sail if you get 999 moons. It's something. I'm glad I got it because there was some light at the end of the tunnel. Nothing like getting a piece of shit for getting every single Korok seed. Just nothing from Donkey Kong. I gave everything to Donkey Kong, and in the very end, he gave me nothing. Donkey Kong ruined my life. I'm gonna starve him to death again. Fuck Donkey Kong. This is part of why Mario Odyssey is better than Bananza.

Read less
Permalink